Hugh watched as the belongings of the retainers were systematically searched. He felt a few pangs of guilt at the rough treatment toward those that had little, knowing that it was his own actions that had precipitated it.

The search escalated up through the petty hierarchy of the serving folk, beginning with the lowest labourer-porters, then to the assistants and simple tradesmen. Roderick didn’t spare his own men, though Hugh noted they received a much gentler touch.

Hugh trembled through it all, silent even as the seams of his apron were ripped open, as if an auble could be hidden in such a place. The face is a mask. The body a puppet. These lessons have been taught, but have we learned? He was waiting, he knew, but not fully sure for what.

Finally the personal servants of the nobility were targeted, and among them Grumb the cook. He looked wary, but ultimately unconcerned. These favoured few were being treated with much greater courtesy than those of lesser station. Roderick seemed to have already grown bored of the whole affair, even while the bickering noble pair fell deeper into despair as they sobered and their grave error became realer. All seemed to assume the matter would go unresolved, that whomever had made off with the coins had managed to secrete them.

Imagine the surprise when Grumb’s purse was shaken out, and two heavy gold coins shimmered in the air for all to see. Thud. Thud. The sound of the heavy metal striking the table resounded in the sudden silence.

Accusations flew! The disputed owners of the coins suddenly forgot their brotherhood of misfortune in the face of sudden opportunity. Grumble stared numbly at the coins on the table, baffled by the turn of events. But the face to watch, the face Hugh watched, was Roderick’s. All his earlier disinterest had faded away. This was no longer the petty distraction he’d presumed it to be. Questions had been raised of loyalty and, commensurately, of discipline.

Hugh knew well how every servant under a harsh master knew the master’s moods better than their own. The fleeting moment of introspection snatched from them as their gaze instinctively turned to they who held dominion. The cook glanced at his lord and, like Hugh, saw death. Tempers are high. Inconsistencies will be neglected, questions will go unasked. Passions will surpass sense. This man’s pain will come by another hand, but we are its author. If we do nothing, he will suffer. The Third Layer communicated all this to Hugh, let him savour for a moment the sense of power. The feeling of control in a life that had, until now, never been entirely his own.

Grumb fell to his knees as Roderick approached, declarations of innocence at his lips. It wouldn’t be enough, that much was clear to all.

“You have stolen a great sum from your betters,” Roderick stated, “do you beg for mercy?”

“Yes lord, yes, mercy, mercy. I wouldn’t lord, I wouldn’t dare. Mercy... please mercy,” Grumb pleaded.

But Roderick had no such inclination. “Two auble’s. One hand for each I think.”

Grumb shuddered as the meaning became clear to him.

It would be the easiest thing in the world. But our purpose is not our own. We serve a greater will!

“He didn’t take the coins!” Hugh shouted, then quieter, “I did.”

Hugh’s confession was met with confusion. They wonder, why does this whelp draw ire to himself? They cannot imagine a noble purpose, and so...

“It looks as if fear has overtaken your accomplice in theft Grumb. But such honesty should be rewarded... perhaps I’ll leave him a hand. A harsh lesson, but a due one,” Roderick said, beginning to play to the crowd.

“My lord, puh-please, it wasn’t theft. The coins were g-given,” Hugh stammered.

“Absurd!” One of the auble-claiming nobles shouted, a fair haired young man with angular features, “This is a king’s ransom. My esteemed peer may be so frivolous but I would never be so foolish.”

“M-my lord, they both came from you.”

The noble looked incensed at Hugh’s words, “You gainsay me?”

“N-no my lordship. Never!” Hugh blurted out, “It was late in the evening, and your lordship was fairing well in the game. You placed a handful of coins on the tray, telling me to fetch another bottle with ‘as good luck as this one’ and to offer a tip to the cook. I did not see the coins or I would have objected lord! Please know I would never dare! In the darkness I never knew!” Hugh began to sob, drawing on the very real fear that burned in him, “I b-brought them to the cook’s purse and dumped them—he was to bed. I didn’t know my error until now, I swear it, I swear it.”

The noble began to look uncertain struggling to pierce through the veil of the night’s inebriation, and then, as if a thought suddenly came to him, suddenly eased.

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“It must be as the boy says. ‘Twas a night of indulgence, a fine night such as it can lead to mistakes. The error is indeed mine. Do not treat him harshly Roderick, he has shown great courage to come to the defence of his master and admit his part,” the noble pronounced.

“Your fault indeed,” the other noble sneered. But to his surprise, his sharp-faced rival did not rise to the offence and merely smiled.

Roderick however had not released the tension in his frame. His rage once lit, cannot be smothered so easily.

The aspirant Baron watched the crowd of his would-be vassals and assessed their mood. He cannot break so easily from the consensus, he still needs them. They had not been inconvenienced, if anything they had been entertained. A servant redeeming himself through loyalty to his master. To masters, this tale is already written. He cannot break the story so easily, he cannot make them question his role as their liege. The Third Layer was confident, so when Roderick approached regardless, it felt, as much as it was capable of such, surprise.

The Bastard approached Hugh and placed a hand on the back of his neck, it squeezed. He leaned in close and the crowd grew quiet.

“You will speak the truth,” Roderick whispered, and the Third Layer shivered. Something had just happened. Then, speaking louder “Is it as you’ve said? You have not lied or omitted?”

“I have li-” Hugh began to answer, and the Third Layer stormed. Hugh did not have control. Content in its obscure existence the Third Layer had never needed to do more than guide, but now disaster approached, and the Third Layer did something it had never done before: it reached from its depths, and fought for mastery of the body.

Hugh coughed suddenly, his voice caught between struggling forces and commands.

You will speak the truth, Roderick’s words echoed again through Hugh, a voice of a master. A voice not just accustomed to obedience, but one which enforced it.

“I have,” WE KNOW BUT ONE MASTER! “spoken only the truth my lord.” The Third Layer answered.

A moment of palpable tension lingered, but finally Roderick released Hugh.

“The hunt awaits!” He shouted suddenly, to much applause.

The camp burst into action.

The rival noble finally realized his error when he attempted to take the auble he considered his own.

“Ahh my friend, not so hasty. We all heard the lad. It was I who possessed the coins when they were given to him,” the sharp-faced noble admonished, sweeping the coins into his own purse.

“Wh-whu! You ended the night insolvent!” the rival spluttered, “if the coins had been in hand they would have gone to me in the final round with the rest of your purse!”

But Roderick had little patience for more delays and ignored the squabbling pair. The noble company hurried to prepare for their outing, sending the camp followers into disarray as horses were readied and the chaos of the earlier search swept aside. Their exit had been delayed by almost the entire morning.

But we are not done. The cook hadn’t stirred through the final revelations, simply relieved to have his sentence lifted as suddenly as it came. But the moment of peace passed, and his eye turned to the source of his troubles, uncaring if they were also his salvation.

“Boy!” he belted, and stomped over to Hugh, halting only to look for any noble observers, but they had already dismissed Hugh as a mere bit player in the drama.

Hugh quailed, “Sir please, sir listen!”

“Why should I not beat you to an inch of your life boy?”

“I lied,” Hugh whispered, forcing the cook to lean in close to make him out. “I didn’t put the aubles in your purse.”

The cook, never a thinking man, struggled to process the implication. “Do you mean to threaten me boy? I didn’t put them there!”

“I know you didn’t sir, I know it! And I couldn’t see an innocent man maimed. I knew you couldn’t have taken the coins, you never went near the table! But they wouldn’t believe me sir, not unless I put it on myself.”

Grumb straightened, his thuggish mind whirring. There is no richer soil for conspiracy than a man with little, who guards it jealously.

“Who placed the coins.” Grumb didn’t ask it as a question, he merely realized it as the question that needed answering.

“Someone who means you ill sir, someone who means you very ill. They likely watch us even now.”

Grumb almost started to look around, but Hugh grabbed his shirt.

“No sir! They can’t know you have realized it! They will grow cautious. They must think you ignorant of their plans, so you can catch them in the act!”

Hugh saw the moment of hesitation, when Grumb’s eyes focused on Hugh. He considers us. We have been close to the centre of all his woe. He wonders if we are the source...

Grumb did not turn his head, but his eyes shifted. Searching, hunting for threats around him...and we are underestimated.

“Now sir,” Hugh let his voice tremble, “They’ll know I spoke to you, told you the truth... You’ll need to hit me now sir. So’s they think you don’t believe me.”

It was a credit to his nature that the cook hesitated not a moment before slugging Hugh in the face, knocking him dazed on the ground. He could already feel his face swelling, and knew a glorious black eye awaited him.

The cook crouched for a moment next to the fallen Hugh, and he patted the boys shoulder absentmindedly.

“You’ve done well kitchen boy. You look out for Grumb, and Grumb’ll look out for you.” Then he stood and moved away, eyes darting around the camp, seeking his hidden enemies.

Hugh laid on the ground, watching the clouds roil above. He wondered if it might storm.